The oceans and seas have their natural divinities, including the famous Oceanids and Nereids, the Nymphs of the salt waters, but did you know that Lake Geneva is also populated by its graceful, animated forms? They are called Fenettes...
Irresistible, with their long silky hair and transparent green eyes, the Fenettes blend into their environment and are difficult to observe. Behind their slender form and their fatal beauty, a bewitching power will reach out to you, driving you into mortal madness. So don't be curious, don't look at them and don't follow their light footsteps through the reeds.
A sad story from the shores of Noville tells of the fatal encounter between a young boy and the nymph Fenetta. Having ventured into a forbidden reedbed to pick a bouquet of golden lilies for his beloved, the boy saw his reflection in the water change to Fenetta's hypnotic green eyes. Enthralled, the boy put one foot in the water, then the other, until he was swallowed up by the lake... Worried, his sweetheart followed the boy's boot tracks into the marsh, and reached the doomed shore. The lilies floating on the lake made the young girl realise her misfortune, and Fenetta suddenly emerged from the water, streaming and giggling. No one knows what fate befell this poor boy. Horrified, she ran breathlessly back to Noville. Despite her attempt to escape the spell by covering her eyes, madness overtook her and she died a year later, to the day...
Information taken from the book: “Légende et histoires du Léman”, by Christian Vellas and the Lémanique n°55 “Imaginary geography of Lake Geneva”
Photo credit : Kai Taimsalu
